Ten-year review of facial bone fractures in rural population at a teaching institute in Central India (Maharashtra)

Objective: The purpose of this study was to review the incidence and characteristics of maxillofacial fractures in Loni (rural population) and compare them with the existing literature. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of patients' records and radiographs was reviewed during the 10-year period between 2007 and 2017. Statistical analysis was carried out according to age, gender, cause of accident, and fracture site. Results: A total of 1943 cases with 2470 injuries were reviewed during the 10-year period. The age of patients ranged from 0 to 70 years. The ratio of men to women was 3.5:1. Most fractures were caused by road traffic accident (44.12%), followed by fall (26.76%), assault (25.06%), and animal injuries (4.06%). The prevalent anatomic regions of isolated fractures were the mandible (50.64%), followed by Zygomatic complex (ZMC) (9.26%), Le Fort II (4.07%), Le Fort I (3.50%), orbital floor (3.07%), Le Fort III (2.23%), dentoalveolar (1.39%), zygomatic arch (1.13%), and nasal bone (0.77%). In combination fractures, the most common were the midface combinations (12.55%), followed by mandibular and midface combinations (6.13%), mandibular combination fractures (3.25%), and midface and frontal bone fractures (1.444%). Conclusion: The findings of this study compared with similar studies reported in literature support the view that the cause and incidence of maxillofacial injuries vary from one country to another. Animal injury was one of the causes for maxillofacial trauma because of rural location of our center.